Disclaimer: Criminal Minds is owned by CBS. I own nothing but my imagination.
Family Ties-Chapter 2
"Don't you mean MY daughter, Erin?" Dave asked stiffly. "I seem to recall that she ceased being your daughter less than an hour after she was born. Isn't that how long it took you to sign your rights away?"
"David-" Strauss tried to interrupt, but Dave wouldn't let her.
"But since you never wanted her in the first place, since you nearly had her removed from your body when you were less than six weeks pregnant with her, since I had to beg you not to KILL her, I guess I should be grateful you even let her come into existence!"
"You're right David, okay? I shouldn't have called her that, she's clearly YOUR daughter!" Strauss said loudly, trying to calm the irate profiler.
"Alright then, why do we need to talk about my daughter?" He asked trying to ignore the sense of foreboding in his gut; he knew nothing good was going to come from this conversation.
"What is her blood type?" Erin asked and Dave was surprised enough that he answered without comment.
"A negative, why?"
"Thank God," Erin muttered in relief and then looked up at Dave. "My middle child, Clara, has aplastic anemia."
"Jesus Erin, I had no idea," Dave said in a softer voice.
Strauss nodded, "Up until now, blood transfusions and medications have worked to keep her somewhat healthy, but her disease is progressing and the doctor told me she needs a bone marrow transplant in order to survive. In order to lessen the chances of rejection, her best bet would be to receive marrow from a blood relative, but, unfortunately, my other daughters and I are not a match for Clara."
"And?" Dave prodded, not liking the direction this conversation was going.
"And, since your daughter is at least a half-blood relative and she's the same blood type as Clara, she may be a potential bone marrow match."
"Are you telling me," Dave began slowly, trying to keep his anger under control, "that you want me to risk my daughter's life in order to save your daughter's life? Are you seriously asking me to permit my daughter to undergo an invasive medical procedure as a favor to you?"
"First of all, the procedure would be low-risk to Katie. All told, she would probably spend one night in the hospital and then another 2-3 days recuperating and, yes, the procedure involves some pain, but-"
"No! No buts!" Dave yelled. "You have some nerve even asking me to consider this!"
"I know you hate me David and, believe me, the feeling is very much mutual, but do you really want to punish my nine year old daughter for our past mistakes?"
"Did you just refer to my daughter as a mistake?" He asked in a lethal voice.
"No, no, of course not," Erin backtracked, knowing that any hope of saving her daughter's life rested in her former lover's hands. "What I meant was-"
"She doesn't know about you, Erin," Dave said in a calmer voice, but inside he was panicking. No, he didn't want Erin's nine year old to die from her disease, but he also didn't want to turn his thirteen year old daughter's life upside down. "Janet and I agreed she was better off not knowing about you and the circumstances that led to her conception and birth and, if I remember correctly, you were in firm agreement with that."
"I was, but things have changed David, my daughter is sick and your daughter may be the only person who can help her! I know these aren't the best of circumstances, and I know she will be upset when you tell her-" Once again, Dave interrupted his section chief.
"Upset? She's going to be way beyond upset, Erin! She's coming into her teen years and I need her to be able to talk to me, to confide in me, to TRUST me and this is going to blow all of that out of the water!" Dave couldn't believe this was happening now, of all times! Sure, he knew he would have to eventually tell Katie about her biological mother, she would need that for a complete health history, but he'd hoped it would be far in the future, preferably when he was on his deathbed.
"I'm truly sorry David, but my daughter needs help now," Strauss said firmly. "So are you going to have her tested, or are you going to force me to get a court order to have her tested?"
Dave, who had begun to feel a trace amount of sympathy for his section chief, felt the sympathy turn to fury. "Are you threatening me, Erin? We both know I don't do well with ultimatums."
Erin, who was also starting to get pissed off at that point, said, "It's not a threat, it's a promise. There is NOTHING I won't do for my daughter!"
"Well it's good to hear you can love at least one of them," he spat. The two of them just glared at each other for a moment before Dave finally relented; he knew he couldn't punish an innocent child for her mother's mistakes. "Fine, I'll talk to Katie, but I need some time."
"My daughter doesn't have the luxury of time, David."
"And my daughter is just returning from two months away from me, Erin and I need a little time to reconnect with her before I shatter her world. I'm only asking for ten days."
"Fine," Strauss agreed begrudgingly, "But if I don't hear from you, on day eleven I'll file for a court order, so she'll learn about things one way or another."
"I get it, Erin," Dave said through clenched teeth, remembering the rule his father taught him about never hitting a woman.
Strauss stood up, "As long as we understand each other then," she said before she left his office.
Once she was gone, Dave let out a breath he didn't know he'd been holding. God how he loathed that woman! She was the one thing that made him second-guess his decision about coming out of retirement.
Of course, he knew the situation wasn't entirely her fault. He could have, no he should have had this talk with Katie much sooner…hell, he shouldn't have hidden it from her at all, but he'd never wanted her to know that her biological mother hadn't wanted her, that she had planned to abort her. It was only because of his begging that Erin hadn't gone through with her plans to rid herself of their child and he never wanted Katie to feel unwanted.
As he sat with his head in his hands, Dave realized that it was almost time to pick his daughter up from the airport. He quickly packed his briefcase and stepped out of his office, closing the door behind him.
"Hey, what did Strauss want?" Hotch inquired, stepping out of his own office.
"Nothing good," Dave said with a sigh as he shook his head.
"Should I be worried?" His boss asked, wondering if the she-demon was once again trying to break up the team.
"No, it's not about work, it was personal. Look Aaron, I've got to go get Katie from the airport, can we talk about this later?"
"Sure," Hotch replied, "How about over dinner? Hailey tried calling you, but you were in with Strauss and you didn't answer. She wants you and Katie to come for supper tonight and, since it's my night with Jack and Jack also wants to see Katie, I'm invited as well."
Dave smiled at that; for awhile he wondered if his unit chief and ex-wife would ever be able to be in the same room together, but after their divorce they'd slowly repaired their relationship and had become friends again. While Dave knew that nothing romantic would ever happen between the two, it was nice to see them acting amicably towards each other.
"Tell Hailey we'll be there; I'm sure Katie is dying to see you guys too," Dave said. "And I'll fill you in on the situation with Strauss. In fact, I may need your legal advice about it."
"Can't wait," Hotch said dryly, wondering what kind of jam his friend had gotten into.
Dave just smiled and made his way through the bullpen and to the elevators; his little girl was finally coming home and he wasn't going to let anything ruin it.
